elevatorcommunityfandomcom-20200216-history
ArtiePenguin1
ArtiePenguin1 (lowercase artiepenguin1), real name Jacob, is a former elevator filmer from Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. The username/channel artiepenguin1 was first opened on 2012 August 12. His first elevator video was filmed on 2012 September 01. Due to the lack of views for elevator videos, Jacob reduced elevator filming drastically starting in 2014. In May 2015, he officially decided to halt nearly all elevator filming, effectively dropping out of the community. The videos he posts now are focused on technology and travel. History Before filming elevators In July 2012, Jacob (using his old everythingaboutPPT account) started watching elevator videos. The first elevator videos that he searched for were videos of the elevator in the Washington Monument because it was still closed when he went in July. He was surprised to see related videos of other elevators in short/non-significant buildings. Some of the videos were pretty interesting, especially when there was a mechanical malfunction. The very first user that he subscribed to (using his old everythingaboutPPT account) was dieselducy. After that he subscribed to TheElevatorChannel. It took around 2-3 weeks of almost non-stop video watching to view most of Dieselducy's and TheElevatorChannel's older videos. While doing so, he came across two elevator filmers fairly close to Las Cruces, CubsRule2040 and elevatortimes, the former he came across first because he was mentioned in one of dieselducy's videos. Over those weeks in the latter half of July, Jacob started to learn more about elevators and the "elevator lingo." Inspired by going to Washington, DC, Jacob decided that he would start filming elevators. Of course, the channel he was using, everythingaboutPPT, had been in use since 2010. The channel didn't have many subscribers due to a failed animated web series that never aired. He decided it would be best to start over and create a new channel. The start of filming On 2012 August 12, the username and channel ArtiePenguin1 were created. The first video to the channel was also uploaded that day. The very first video on the channel was a news promo (recorded off of the TV) for local NBC affiliate KTSM. Towards the end of the month, he posted some older videos from back in March 2010. One of those videos featured his first* filmed elevator ride. That video was at the Holiday Inn and Suites in Mesa Arizona; the elevator was filmed inadvertently as part of a hotel tour. Beginning in September 2012, he began filming elevators around Las Cruces and El Paso, Texas. Most hotels in Las Cruces were filmed in October 2012 and visits to El Paso were conducted about once a month from September to November. In November, the first formal YouTube video of the Wyler Aerial Tramway in El Paso was filmed. Towards December, more non-elevator videos were released including driving and unboxing videos. A meetup with fellow filmer elevatorman155 was planned for October but elevatortimes had university classes to attend in the morning so the plan did not work out. The Year 2013 After ending 2012 above predictions in subscribers and video views, 2013 started off good with an endorsement from fellow New Mexico filmer CubsRule2040. In January, A.P.1's first road trip video was documented when going to Alamogordo and Ruidoso, NM in a day trip. Unfortunately, the trip was not a success because fog forced him to leave late, therefore, he could not film in Alamogordo other than at the space museum. In March 2013, he took a trip to Tucson, Arizona during spring break. This was his first documented (with video) road trip involving a hotel stay. Over 25 GB worth of footage was gathered in Tucson. By the start of summer 2013, things seemed to be on a high roll. Then on 2013 May 29, he got an email from some building owners regarding his key use. They did not like that he was using keys and ordered him to stop. To avoid making other building owners angry, he decided to delete, edit, and re-upload all of the videos that showed key use and were tied to a location. Artiepenguin1 no longer uses elevator keys to avoid legal trouble; he also suggests that anyone who wants to use keys to demonstrate an elevator's features get explicit permission from building managers or other personnel. With the key use done forever, an aspect that made his videos unique, he pondered whether to even filming elevators at all if he could no longer use keys. He finally decided to continue filming without keys. In mid-June 2013, he traveled up to Albuquerque, NM with his dad and met CubsRule2040. 2013 June 13 has been the most filmed day of his life thus far, with a total of 3-4 hours of footage. Earlier that day, he filmed the first full length YouTube video on the RailRunner Express from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. He and CubsRule2040 filmed some buildings in downtown Albuquerque; unfortunately, due to time constraints, they could not film in some buildings, such as the Plaza Galleria, the Simms Building, and the Wells Fargo Building. After returning from the large Albuquerque-Santa Fe Trip in the end of June, A.P.1 had to get ready for school to start again. With the start of school meant less time for videos; but over the month of July, only two days were missed (days where videos weren't uploaded). On 2013 August 12, he uploaded his 1 year anniversary video with 350 uploads. In the month of September, video uploads were scaled back to weekends only. From the end of May 2013 to early September 2013, nearly one video per day was uploaded (for around 100 days). After September, the filming of elevators was suspended due to school and the last video from the cubsrule2040 June meetup was uploaded on October 11 400th video. Every other week starting November 1 and lasting until December 13, one "major" video was released. This included part two of the RailRunner trip, both parts of the Albuquerque-Santa Fe June 2013 road trip, and a full hotel tour of the Hotel Blue. On November 8, while running CheckDisk, many video files were deleted from A.P.1's hard drive. Some videos permanently lost included some videos at NMSU from spring 2013 and the review of the cheap TaoTronics TV antenna. Fortunately, all videos after June 13 from the ABQ-SF June 2013 trip were able to be recovered from the SD card. Unfortunately, all videos on June 12 were lost, including the view at Sandia Crest and the Sandia Tramway ride down. Damage was limited because most old videos were already uploaded and the backlog was very short. When school let out for Christmas, it allowed for a continuous influx of new videos from 2013 December 14 to 2014 January 07. Videos uploaded during this period included airplane takeoff and landing videos (from his dad's business trips), technology unboxings, old Space Museum videos from Jan. 2013, and unboxing videos from his custom computer build. From December 27-31, A.P.1 went on a trip to Mora, NM again to visit family. On the way up, he stopped in Albuquerque where he filmed better solo takes at the Albuquerque Plaza, 5th/Copper garage, Simms Building, and 320 Gold. Again, due to time constraints, the Wells Fargo building was skipped along with plaza galleria. Wells Fargo remains the only public skyscraper in downtown Albuquerque to not be filmed in HD. The Year 2014 Entering the new year, things were looking good. A.P.1 was hoping for a better 2014 after all the disappointments in 2013. Early in the new year, on 2014 January 03, fellow friend and elevator filmer Elevatorman155 closed down his account. All 1500+ of his videos were instantly gone. This event greatly saddened AP1 and was even more reason to refocus videos on technology. Following some career research in school and in-depth analysis of 2013's analytics, a decision was made to focus more on technology since it garnered more views and was ultimately related to the desired career pathway of AP1. In February, the change to technology videos started to become more apparent. Only 3 elevator videos were uploaded; more technology videos appeared (Moto X unboxing and rooting), as well as driving and takeoff/landing videos. In March, the overdue computer build from October 2013 was uploaded in the middle of the month. On March 28, the last elevator video for months was uploaded. Starting in January 2014, the number of uploads each month decreased because of the growing workload from school. In April 2014, the ultimate low (at the time) was hit, only 5 videos were uploaded that month, including one news update. One of AP1's oldest videos (the tour of the Biosphere 2 from March 2013) was finally uploaded as his 500th video on 2014-04-18. This video marked a major achievement in the transition to quality videos since it included many pieces of music and more editing overall. The main reason for the small number of videos in April was because it was AP1's last full month of school. He anticipated that once school got out in early May, the number of videos uploaded would increase. However, once May arrived, the number of videos uploaded did not climb drastically; in fact, only 6 videos were uploaded that month (1 more compared to April). After school got out, AP1 was very busy planning for the summer trip to south Texas. The purchase of a new camera ate up about a week of his time; the original camera purchased (the Sony HX50) did not work very well and it had to be sent back. A new camera then had to be researched carefully and purchased within a few days to arrive before June 1. In addition, AP1's upgrade of the vehicle lighting was in full swing; some of the early LED lights purchased were too dim and had to be sent back. Some new LED taillights and a flasher were all part of the big upgrade; again, this took up a lot of time. The Nikon D3300 DSLR was finally settled on and purchased; it arrived on May 30. This was his family's first DSLR camera and it also became the secondary camera for the YouTube channel; taking the place of his Moto X. The aging and damaged Canon SX110 was finally retired as the family's primary still camera, it was in service since 2009 and received most of the damage on the 2012 trip to DC. In the first week in June, the major trip to south Texas was taken. It lasted nearly a week, from Monday to Saturday. AP1 went to Houston for 3 days and then to Austin for 2 days. He flew into Houston and after staying a few days, took a rental car from Houston to Austin (stopping along in San Antonio). The visit in San Antonio marked the first time AP1 visited a far away place twice (the last visit was in 2008; almost 6 years to the day before the 2014 visit). The main purpose of the large trip was to explore the region. Only around 5 elevator videos were filmed; the only tall places (over 100 m tall) visited were the Chase Tower (Houston), the San Jacinto Monument, and the Tower of the Americas. A major filming focus on this trip was roads; Houston is regarded as having one of the best freeway systems in the United States. In addition, 2 hotel tours were made, mostly using photos. Like stated, the new DSLR Nikon camera was heavily used during the trip; more footage was gathered in picture format compared to videos. In total ~44 GB worth of video footage was gathered, most of it was dashcam video. About 12 GB of pictures were taken as well, totaling just over 1000 photos. Over the next several weeks after the trip, Jacob began pouring over all the footage. An important decision was made to polish and spruce up most of the footage from the trip. Gone were the days of just speeding up the driving videos and leaving the audio in, now royalty free music would be added to make things seem more professional. Before June was over, he was able to upload 1 airplane landing video, 3 driving videos (2 of them polished; one sped up with music), and 1 elevator video. Things were looking good; however, school's summer session was about to start at the beginning of July, so not as many videos could be uploaded. The school summer session was pretty intense with some classes only being held for a few weeks; Jacob worked hard to get all the work done and maintain good grades. As a result, the number of videos output was pretty restricted. Again, 5 videos were uploaded in July, all but one focusing on vehicle lighting/electrical upgrades. During the short one week break between and summer session and autumn semester, an additional 3 videos were pumped out, all were related to the trip. Even though the pressure was slightly reduced by having more time to complete a class (months instead of weeks), the workload was still the same as in the summer if not more. Between August and October, less than 3 videos were published each month. Most of the videos were separated in upload dates by a matter of 2-4 weeks. Two videos were uploaded in September and one in October. School really had taken a major hit on video production. Since June, AP1 has not filmed a single video 'on location' (at a place other than his house) because he was so busy. Some 'on location' videos were scheduled for filming during the holidays when he visited family in El Paso. On Thanksgiving day (Nov. 27), most of Loop 375 both clockwise (inner loop) and anti-clockwise (outer loop) was captured with the dash cam. Unfortunately, the videos from the dashcam showing the drive back to Las Cruces (outer loop) near dusk did not come out well. The dashcam tried to lock the exposure on the sky and it made everything else dark. After that event, the dashcam was slowly eased into retirement. The Year 2015 Overall, the first half of the year was pretty slow in terms of the number of videos uploaded. Only an average of 1-2 videos per month was uploaded between January and May. No videos at all were uploaded in April. This was all due to an extremely high workload at school with a challenging Calculus class. In addition, some of the technology videos were not able to be produced as quickly as anticipated. The PTZ security camera expected to arrive before March was not ordered from the original Chinese company Aote because of communication difficulties and a backlog of purchase orders from other buyers. A new PTZ camera was finally ordered from another company, Boavision, in June 2015. During early 2015, the last of the elevator videos from South Texas were uploaded as well as some of the few technology videos (mostly related to the security system). A new channel logo was uploaded on 2015-05-22, it replaced the picture being used since 2012 (the old picture did not crop correctly). Right before the trip to the Seattle area, many videos were pushed into production in the month of June 2015. Among the videos was the long overdue Aote NVR review, the NVR had recently failed at the time the video was uploaded. The last videos relating to the Asus ME572 tablet were also produced the day prior to the trip (June 21). The first new dashcam video using the GoPro Hero 4 was filmed on June 18 and uploaded on June 26. Following the trip to Seattle, not many videos were produced. The week after the trip was 'recovery time' where footage from the trip was copied and cataloged; much time was also spent on the community mapping service Waze, fixing roadways in the Seattle area. 5.6 hours (337 min) of driving footage was filmed totaling 76 GB (the GoPro H4 records at 22mbps in 1080p60) only 5 h or 67 GB were actually from the Seattle area; the rest was filmed going to/from ABQ. 22 GB of other video footage was filmed all travel related (airplane takeoff/landings, hotel tour, and views at the Space Needle). 8 GB of photos were taken totaling 700 pictures. In total, 106 GB of footage was gathered on this trip, more than any other trip before. Trips Flagship trips indicate that the trip was particularly noteworthy and among the most expensive (generally over $1000 USD). Major Filmed Trips In chronological order; these trips were filmed and posted after August 2012, when AP1 was on YouTube. A indicates that the trip was taken by airplane and is therefore a flagship trip. *Las Vegas, NM - 2013 January 18-20 *Tucson, AZ - 2013 March 28-31 *Albuquerque/Santa Fe, NM - 2013 June 12-16 *A South Texas (Houston/Austin, TX) - 2014 June 02-07 *A Seattle, WA - 2015 June 22-27 *A Seattle & Vancouver/Victoria, BC, CAN - 2017 June 21-29 Previous Unfilmed Trips Below is a list of trips that were major and memorable. Technically, AP1's first trip was way back in 2003, but he was very young and did not remember it much. Only the trips in 2011 and 2012 were taken by airplane. All trips listed here are flagship trips. *I-40 Road Trip (Las Vegas, NV) - 2007 July 14-20 *San Antonio, TX Trip - 2008 June 03-07 *Denver, CO Trip - 2009 June 08-12 *Dana Point/Santa Ana, CA - 2011 January 06-10 *Washington, DC - 2012 July 03-07 Achievements In chronological order (oldest to newest). * 100th Upload - 2013 January 05 * 200th Upload - 2013 April 13 * 1st Meetup - 2013 June 13 (with CubsRule2040) * 300th Upload - 2013 July 04 * 400th Upload - 2013 October 11 * 50 000 Video Views - 2013 November 01 * 75 000 Video Views - 2014 January 10 * 100 000 Video Views - 2014 March 07 * 500th Upload - 2014 April 18 * 200 Subscribers - 2014 May 15 * 150 000 Video Views - 2014 June 14 * 200 000 Video Views - 2014 September 05 * 300 Subscribers - 2014 December 06 * 300 000 Video Views - 2015 February 13 * 400 000 Video Views - 2015 June 18 * 400 Subscribers - 2015 July 15 * 550th Upload - 2015 July 31 * 500 000 Video Views - 2015 October 25 * 500 Subscribers - 2016 March 22 * 750 000 Video Views - 2016 September 01 * 750 Subscribers - 2017 April 18 * 1 Million Video Views - 2017 May 06 * 900 Subscribers - 2017 November 22 Filming Devices *Sony Handycam HDR-CX260V (August 2012 - present) *G1W Dashcam (March 2014 - present; retired) *Nikon D3300 (May 2014 - present) *GoPro Hero 4 Silver (June 2015 - present) Trivia *The very first user that he subscribed to (using his old everythingaboutPPT account) was dieselducy. After that he subscribed to TheElevatorChannel. *AP1 has always been environmentally conscious and makes an effort to save energy and recycle. LED lights are some of his favorite energy-saving products. *The metric system (SI) has always been of interest to him since at least 2010, when he got his first GPS. In spring 2014, he became an active advocate of SI when he learned how isolated the United States really is compared to the rest of the world when it comes to using SI units. *Other major hobbies/interests include television (behind the scenes - distribution and editing), films (technical and editing), roads (design), and electronics (computers mostly). *Between 2007 and 2011, he made mock-newscast videos, mainly for home viewing, however, some are posted on YouTube at the old channel. *The channel name is based on a stuffed animal he got at SeaWorld San Diego in fall 2003. *AP1's career path is Computer Science with a focus on artificial intelligence. References/Notes Note: The first elevator ever informally filmed by AP1 was the freight elevator at the Albuquerque Children's Museum in February 2008. This video was permanently lost because space was needed on an external hard drive and it got deleted. Other videos lost from this day included a view at the top floor of the Albuquerque Plaza from inside an office. Note: The elevator filmed in 2010 was a Dover at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Mesa, AZ. Only a short 1-2 minute video exists of a one-way ride. That is why it is classified as informal. A major elevator filming break occurred from December 2013 to June 2014. 2013 January 1 Website News Due to poor low light (incl. dusk/dawn) performance, the dashcam was retired; the GoPro Hero 4 Silver Edition took its place. External links *YouTube channel *Old YouTube channel Category:Elevator filmers from the United States Category:Elevator filmers with a website